OUR STORY 

(His POV)

It all began back in 2018, when the boy saw the girl and well the rest is history… that’s why we are here. But to be serious, the boy would be excited to walk back from MATLAB class every T, TH and be excited to cross the RAs path. Just to see her smile as she did to everyone. It didn't make him special, but it made him happy. He crashed her movie night with her friends and damn was he awkward. At the end of the night, he ended up getting her snapchat, so he had a way to communicate with her. September 20th, 2018, he made contact on snapchat. After a couple months of giving her space, he noticed that she was acting very stressed and needed a break from the school campus as they both lived there. He then invited her to see Grace and Dave and have dinner over at their house as it is a cozy cabin in the middle of the trees. This showed her a side to him that she could never have seen at school. On the car ride home, he told himself that this is who I will spend my life with, this is who I love and am excited to be with.  On April 27th, 2019, he was able to get her on a date. Their first conversation on snapchat was about physics and animals. The perfect combo for both of them.

After the first date they got separated by the evilness of summer vacation, however that didn't stop them from being together. For most couples it would’ve, so early on in their relationship but these two were determined to be together. Then finally school came back in session in the fall of 2019. They really started to blossom together and learn how to be together in person. He decided to bring her home to meet the family for the first time, at thanksgiving. This shy quiet girl was subjected to not only an Italian family but an Irish and Arabic family. Quite the combo, as he helped cook in the kitchen she was playing with the little ones. At one point he looked over at her playing with them and thought, "One day she is going to make an amazing mom. Even if the kids aren't with me, she will be amazing with the little kiddos." In that moment he knew that he would do everything he could to stay with her until they grow old and grey. After thanksgiving weekend happened, they went back up to Prescott and got back into the school routine.

Later they then decided to plan a trip to Fort Collins, CO to see her sister. Finishing up the school semester, they parted ways for a couple weeks as she went to Hanford to see her grandparents for the Christmas holiday. They talked every day during the couple of weeks apart until they came back together for the spring semester of 2020. After thanksgiving weekend, he decided to get a promise ring for her, with that ring he was promising that he would grow up with her and stay by her side and be what she needed him to be. She informed him that her papa Gary and grandma Laqueta were going to be in town. This was his first-time meeting any of her family, she has meet all of him immediately family, but this is a first for him. He wanted to make a good impression, so he wore his favorite shirt at the time, his salmon color button up shirt. They met at Prescott brewing company, and he met her grandparents. They were really sweet and welcoming; he didn't have any reason to be worried but wanted to make a good impression.

He planned a day trip to Sedona for the day after valentine’s day to give her the ring, they were going to go on a nice hike, and he would give it to her then. On valentine’s day, she planned for them to go across the street from campus and have a picnic next to the lake. She got a picnic set up from her friend and went to the store ahead of time to get the fixings needed for sandwiches. She didn't have a car at this time, so it made him feel really special that she took a lot of time out of her schedule to make this happen. They walked down to the lake and had a beautiful picnic with bottled coke and sandwiches, talking about everything and nothing all at once. He felt so much love coming back from that picnic that he couldn't keep the ring a secret anymore and in his typical fashion he said screw the plans and gave it to her the night before. They still went to Sedona and have a fun day the next day.

The time finally came to go to Fort Collins, CO and meet her sister. They left together in the crappy overused Kia Optima and set track to get to Fort Collins over spring break through the snow and ice. He finally got to meet her sister and it went well. During the trip, she gave him his promise ring in the hotel room. Immediately after that trip, some virus known as COVID-19 broke out. The school canceled everyone coming back to campus and gave them 4 days to move out of the dorms. In a huge whirlwind of packing up their lives, he took her down to the airport to say bye as she left on her flight home to Hawaii, a -3-hour time difference. 

During the summer they continued to skype and talk on the phone. The world was a scary place, with no food on the shelves at the grocery stores and people the news saying each day it was worse than the previous. Throughout all of this he was happy that he had his hooman and was scared for her. Granted he was in a hot spot and she wasnt, it didn't ease his anxiety. From the beginning of march to the end of august they both waited over 160 days to see each other again. 

Then finally the time came! They were to see each other again as school started up. Before the craziness of the semester, they headed up to flagstaff for a day. Getting canes and sitting at a park, happy to be with each other. As they went through the semester, she would sneak into his room as it was against the rules for there to be any vistors. Each night she would go take a shower and sneak back into his room to be safe at night as they cuddled and went to sleep. This went on for months until it was time for winter break. The week of finals came down and after he took his last final, she dragged him out to downtown prescott to go walk around the town square lit up with christmas lights. The whole time he complained about how cold he was but in reality, he loved every second of being with her and the fact that she wants to do things with him. If it was warmer it would've been nice but he wouldn't have traded being able to see her face light up when she saw the christmas lights. 

Over break he went to go see her childhood home in Hawai'i. He went to Hawaii for her sister’s wedding, in the process he got to see where she grew up, what the culture there meant to her, and what her childhood was like. As they had some time, they went for a drive around the island, and she took him to a punalu'u bake shop. They went to the shop, and she explained to him what the different types of bread where, he ended up getting a taro sweet bread and she got a a guava sweet bread. They ended up going outside to a garden area and ate the breads together.  They then went to Punalu'u black sands beach and saw some waterfalls. The sight-seeing wasn't to see the island as a tourist, but to see her world, to see what her life was and how he could understand some of it. He realized he will never really understand but try to support her childhood and culture as much as he could.

They then headed back to AZ to finish up his last semester, which went by blazingly fast. He then graduated and they moved into an apartment in PHX. For a while they talked about wanting an animal. They both love animals with a passion and want to be able to give an animal a good home. Now that he has a stable income and a home, he decided it was time to have an animal to come home to when she was bound to go back to Prescott in the fall. He went and convinced her to go to the humane society, to "look" at cats. One does NOT go to the humane society and not adopt an animal. They ended up bringing home the softest, cutest cat named Newton. It took a bit for him to get used to newton, but he got there eventually. Over this summer, he learned that he loves to go camping. He loves being able to be out of the city have quiet that is away from the stress of chaotic life. She was skeptical that it wasn't just another one of his hyper fixations, but they went camping and they went almost every other week that summer. She put up with his craziness to go that often. Bless her for dealing with that one.

As she went back to finish off her last semester of college, they would see each other every two weeks, sometimes every week. Work and school were a lot and they managed it together wishing to be with each other every day. Finally, the time came, she was going to graduate and they would be with each other all the time! He stayed with her in Prescott in her dorm the night before hand, and she ended up waking him up in the morning, which he was not happy about but got up. They got her to the ceremony stadium wayyy beforehand. He waited until he could go in the stadium and wait to see her ceremony, and watch/support this beautiful, amazing, intelligent, kind, caring, and safe hooman, achieve this momentous milestone in her life. Nothing could express how proud of her he was. She would end up publishing a paper with her as first name from her incredible work in her undergrad. 

After the celebrations of her graduation, they left almost immediately afterwards to go on a road trip to Fort Collins, CO to go spend Christmas with her family. This was their first Christmas together in the same physical location, and at one point she mentioned that she wishes she had a Christmas tree in the Airbnb they were staying at. The next day he went in search of a Christmas tree that they could put up in the Airbnb so there was a bit of a Christmassy feel in the air. He wanted to make their first Christmas feel special and memorable in the small things he did. He wanted to share a bit of what his family does for Christmas dinner, so he cooked Christmas dinner for her and her family on Christmas. Aaron really loved the corn pudding, Sarah liked the green bean casserole, and he loved her. Not after too long, they were back on the road heading back home to AZ. Almost got stuck in the scary nighttime snow, but they got through it together.

For a while he was talking to her parents, in order to get their blessing to ask to marry their daughter. He knew since the first thanksgiving that this is his hooman and that no other human will ever be right for him the way that she is. He went and got a custom ring made, since he believes that going to a jewelry store will not be sufficient and have enough thought in the ring to be special. He wanted to devote his time and energy into making her ring be hers. He wanted to propose on the trip to CO but the ring did not arrive in time. So, he got to thinking, what if we went to the snow up in Pinetop and he will propose in the snow after they went sledding, it would be perfect!! He told his mom the plan and went and booked an Airbnb in Pinetop for one of his three-day weekends. However, his mom spilled the beans, so he had to think quickly on his feet on what to do. He determined that he needed to propose earlier than that trip so she wouldn't expect it, and what better activity to do than camping. camping is an activity that they have both loved doing and have had fun with. However, it is early January, it will be cold outside. He found a campsite at around the same elevation as phoenix and thought some blankets would be enough. It was not enough, not nearly enough. When they woke up, the temperature was in the mid-twenties and the water that was left outside had a inch of frozen ice on the top of the water. As they warmed up, he led them to the riverbed nearby to ask her to marry him. Acting insanely weird while they sat and ate their picnic, he got on one knee and gave this speech of how much he loves her and how much he wants to spend the rest of his life with her. The first thing she said was, "Fuck off". Well, that is surprising, but he knew her and knew she didn't mean it, she was shocked. So, he said, "I know you don't mean that, Emily will you make me the happiest person in the world and marry me?" She replied with a "Yes", marking the next chapter of their love story together.

As time went on and not having his childhood dog anymore, he decided he really wanted a dog and her being the big animal person that she is. She thankfully entertained the idea of getting a dog. He kept watching different rescues and different shelters hoping to find a dog that spoke to him that he wanted to meet. He came across a dog at Ghost Town Dog Rescue, the dog’s name is Alphie. He looks like a goofy boy with his big ears, large mouth, and big eyes. He was described on the website as, "... a gentle soul. He is a sweet pup motivated by food and love." The old soul part was the selling point to his now fiancé. After minimal convincing, he went and set up a time to meet Alphie for that upcoming weekend. When that weekend came and they went to meet Alphie, Alphie clung onto him. He was a very timid pup, but gentle, loving, and sweet. His mom always said that if the dog doesn't want to leave you, that’s your dog. So, within a couple of minutes they decided that his pup is coming home with them, and that he is the newest addition to the family.

After months of job searching, she ended up having a job interview at WinCo. He needed help with making ends meet, and having another income even if it is a minimum wage job, would make a big difference. She went to the interview at WinCo and did kill it of course. Later that day, she get a call, fully expecting it to be WinCo, she answered the call. To her surprise it was not WinCo, but rather another company that she was interviewing with, Raytheon. This job was at Raytheon Missiles and Defense in Tucson, and accepting this job will make the couple relocate. He was essentially fully remote and could easily move to Tucson. After talking she took the job down in Tucson. It wasn't until three months later that she could start. In the meantime, he went and looked for a job at Raytheon as well, for Systems Engineering. 

As time went on, they lived in the apartment in gilbert and had their friend Brenden over. They would make cocktails and play with the buddy, while talking about everything and absolutely nothing at the same time. As they waited to move and start their new jobs, they started to wedding plan and look at different venues. They found one in Salt Lake City that was cute. Since they wanted to decide if this venue is right, they flew out to Salt Lake City to go tour it. They went to go tour the venue and it was small/intimate and cute. But it just wasn't fully right. They went back to the city and got some beers from some of the Salt Lake breweries and had fun.

After they got home, Emily got the email saying she got her clearance and can have a solid start date. Let the whirlwind of moving and starting a new job begin. They found a nice house in an area near Oro Valley. This was the ideal area and rent is cheap for how great the house is with double ovens. They packed up their apartment and whole life into boxes and set out on the next chapter together. 

After about 9 months in Tucson, they decided to expand their family. there was a dog that caught their eye that looked exactly like how they imagined Alphie looked as a puppy. After debating if they should get a puppy for two weeks, they decided to go see the puppy and see if she would fit into their family. As they were about to head down to Phx, they got a message saying she got adopted. Eric being the stubborn guy he is, didn't take no for an answer and they drove down to Phx to see if they clicked with any of the other puppies. They ended up bringing a little puppy home, by the name of Astro. Welcome the little crack head to the family, Astro.

Although all this written, it still leaves out all the times they argued and had fights. They had differences in opinion and communication, but at the end of the day they loved each other so much. They came together to make something magical, that no one else would ever understand. They are a team together, and nothing is unachievable with them at each other’s side. Now, with all of this said, he is asking for her to say, "I do". He will be at that alter today, waiting for her to say yes to forever with him. He knew he would say "I do" when he asked her to marry him on January 21st, of 2022.